1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to electronic authentication and, more particularly, relates to the hardening of images that are used for electronic authentication such that the images are more resistant to malware.
2. Related Art
Various computer systems require that a user answer one or more questions in order authorize access of the user to a website or to other features or services offered by the computer system. By requiring the correct response to such questions, the computer system can determine that a human being, rather than a machine, is most likely requesting the access. The computer system can also determine that the user is an authorized user, e.g., the computer can determine an identity of the user. It can be desirable to limit access to human beings because computers are routinely used to mine databases for information that is not intended to be disbursed in mass. It can be desirable to limit access to authorized users, such as when access to the website or service is offered on a subscription basis and only users who have paid for the subscription are authorized to have access.
One problem with such authentication questions is that their use has been found to be objectionable to many users. Many users find the question and answer process too cumbersome and time consuming. Also, answering questions is subject to entry errors that can cause a user to have to re-type a response. Images, rather than questions, can be used for authentication and can mitigate such problems.
However, both question and image base authentication systems are undesirably susceptible to malware. Malware installed upon a user's computer can too easily recognize and provide the correct answers or images, thus undesirably allowing a machine to have unauthorized access to the computer system.